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Labs, athletic fields and a planetarium: IPS school waits on voters for funding
Indianapolis Public Schools’ proposed tax increase would pay for building improvements at 23 schools as the district rolls out its Rebuilding Stronger reorganization.
Indianapolis Public Schools’ proposed tax increase would pay for building improvements at 23 schools as the district rolls out its Rebuilding Stronger reorganization.
The proposals have been sharply criticized by Democrats and traditional public school leaders, who argue that the changes would come at the expense of thousands of students in traditional public schools.
The referendum for capital expenses is part of the district’s Rebuilding Stronger reorganization. Here’s what you need to know.
The overhaul approved in November reconfigures grades, closes six schools and expands specialized academic programs in an effort that officials say will create more great schools and prioritize equity.
The unanimous vote to approve the Near Eastside Innovation School Corp. to run the school follows the district’s decision to drop Urban Act Academy—the charter operator that has run the school since 2018-19—from its Innovation Network.
Former Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Eugene White will temporarily lead the district’s only high school, which was also the subject of the lawsuit filed against the district last May.
Two bills in the legislature aim to discourage the overuse of waivers that exempt high school students from certain graduation requirements, a move that could ultimately bring down graduation rates for Indiana’s districts.
As America’s schools confront dramatic learning setbacks caused by the pandemic, experts have held up intensive tutoring as the single best antidote. Yet, only a small fraction have received it.
The district’s unique portfolio of charters and traditional public schools, created nearly a decade ago by IPS leaders and state lawmakers, has left both populations fighting for funding.
Edison, one of the few Innovation schools in Indianapolis Public Schools not run by a charter operator, called a special meeting Tuesday after Executive Director Nathan Tuttle was accused of using a racial slur.
The Warren Township district is asking voters for an $88 million property tax increase over eight years, in part to maintain the support it received from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding that the state says must be spent by the end of 2024.
The state law requires school districts to notify the state Department of Education if classroom buildings are left “vacant or unused.”
Proponents characterize the strategy as funding students instead of systems, while opponents argue it leaves fewer resources for students in Indiana’s traditional public schools.
Speedway joins two other Marion County school districts in asking voters in May to approve more funding.
Families were sent scrambling by a charter school that initially failed to win permission to open, fell short of enrollment projections, cycled through multiple principals, and lacked timely financial oversight from its authorizer.
Indianapolis Public Schools plans to implement only part of its massive Rebuilding Stronger overhaul after the school board failed to place an operating referendum on the upcoming May ballot.
IPS is the first district in the state to partner with the National Education Equity Lab to allow Crispus Attucks High School students to enroll in college-level courses at the country’s top universities.
As students in grades 3-8 prepare to take the ILEARN again beginning in April, the district is focusing on tactics to continue its progress and reach that goal, with the help of federal COVID relief funding.
The business advocacy group questioned how the effort would improve academic performance and why students in the district’s Innovation charter schools wouldn’t receive an equal portion of the funding.
A revised revenue-sharing plan from Indianapolis Public Schools to increase the amount of funding affiliated charter schools would receive from a potential tax hike is still inadequate, charter-friendly groups say.